Following the shooting death of nine-year-old Jamyla Bolden nearly a year ago, an angry, African-American mother posted a video online. Enraged by protestors denouncing abusive police tactics, rather than the person who killed an innocent young girl, the woman designated African Americans as “the most violent [expletives] she had ever seen.” Using words like “thugs” and “criminals,” she proudly hailed the imprisonment of these young adults.
The video quickly garnered more than five million views after television outlets eagerly promoted her propaganda on the evening news, undoubtedly seeing it as confirmation of their long-held agenda of fear-mongering and criminalization of all things black.
Any veteran teacher who has returned to the classroom can attest to the psychological impact mass incarceration has had on our children. Even the youngest, with little more concern shown for their well-being than the teenage girl thrown from her desk by a grown man, have few means to control the rage that results from parentless homes, poverty and a myriad of home-grown, community-based violence.
We expect our children to emerge from homes where their parents are either incarcerated, dead, addicted to drugs or stressed beyond measure and behave as though they were born with silver spoons in their mouths. We ignore their wounds, contribute to their neglect and become co-conspirators in the multiple traumas they experience – yet, in righteous indignation, we expect them to respond to injustices with decorum.
To deem oppressed and angry African Americans as the most dangerous [expletives] ever seen is to ignore the 2.5 million Americans violently held in cages. It overlooks primetime television dominated by murder, gun violence, rape and mayhem. It overlooks the acceptance of sports where human beings pummel each other as entertainment and the ongoing fight of the NRA to defend the ownership of assault rifles.
To deem African Americans the most violent people one has ever seen dangerously discounts the natural consequences of ignoring festering wounds created by the ongoing enslavement and abuse of a people. It’s imperative that those who viewed the video and accept the tenor of this woman’s protestations take personal responsibility for changing the course of this nation and the lives of the brothers and sisters we claim to love.
It’s time to turn the finger on ourselves – the village we proudly proclaim ourselves to be – and realize the greatest violence of all is our silence.
Christi Griffin is the founder of The Ethics Project, a non-profit organization addressing the impact of crime, injustice and incarcerations. She is the author of “Incarcerations in Black and White: The Subjugation of Black America.”
